NSW: Three police should face charges over breath tests - PIC
08 Dec 2008 11:56 AM
SYDNEY, Dec 8 AAP - A commission has recommended criminal charges against three police officers who have admitted they helped locals dodge drink-driving charges in regional NSW.
In the first matter, a NSW policeman based in Moree, in northern NSW, was too intimidated to protest when he believed a superior officer ordered him to help a colleague dodge a drink-driving charge, a Police Integrity Commission (PIC) report says.
Constable James Boaden was working in September last year when a corrective services officer who worked at the station was brought in after failing a roadside breath test.
David John Webb was arrested after recording a mid-range blood alcohol level of 0.09 in the test, the PIC said.
Both Const Boaden and the station supervisor that night, Senior Constable Phil Smith, admitted to the commission they fabricated evidence - including blowing into a breath analysis machine on Mr Webb's behalf - so it appeared Mr Webb had been under the legal limit.
Const Boaden told a PIC inquiry he felt intimidated by the station's duty officer, Inspector Geoff Budd, and could not stand up to him.
In the second matter, Senior Constable Mark Christie of Orange police station told the PIC he blew into the tube himself to protect Adam Clunes, the son of Leading Senior Constable Colin Clunes.
Mr Clunes, 19, blew 0.202 in a roadside test after being pulled over by police at Orange, in central western NSW, in the early hours of December 21 last year.
Snr Const Christie said he was the on-duty breath analysis service (BAS) operator at Orange police station when Mr Clunes was brought in for further testing.
When asked by the PIC to explain his behaviour, Snr Const Christie spoke of his involvement in a "number of high-stress incidents" for which he had been medicated, and said he had "felt sorry for Mr Clunes".
After the breath test, he told Mr Clunes that he was not to say anything to anyone about what had taken place, the PIC report says.
Snr Const Christie admitted to the commission that he knew Mr Clunes was the son of Snr Const Clunes, but denied that his actions had anything to with his colleague, who he said he knew "only in passing at that stage".
Following public inquiries into both matters, the commission has recommended that action should be taken against Const Boaden, Snr Const Smith and Snr Const Christie for the criminal offence of acting with intent to pervert the course of justice.
